Psalm 1

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 1

This is a psalm of instruction concerning good and evil, setting before us life and death, the blessing and the curse, that we may take the right way which leads to happiness and avoid that which will certainly end in our misery and ruin. The different character and condition of godly people and wicked people, those that serve God and those that serve him not, is here plainly stated in a few words; so that every man, if he will be faithful to himself, may here see his own face and then read... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 1

We have now before us one of the choicest and most excellent parts of all the Old Testament; nay, so much is there in it of Christ and his gospel, as well as of God and his law, that it had been called the abstract, or summary, of both Testaments. The History of Israel, which we were long upon, let us to camps and council-boards, and there entertained and instructed us in the knowledge of God. The book of Job brought us into the schools, and treated us with profitable disputations... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 1:1-3

The psalmist begins with the character and condition of a godly man, that those may first take the comfort of that to whom it belongs. Here is, I. A description of the godly man's spirit and way, by which we are to try ourselves. The Lord knows those that are his by name, but we must know them by their character; for that is agreeable to a state of probation, that we may study to answer to the character, which is indeed both the command of the law which we are bound in duty to obey and the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 1:4-6

Here is, I. The description of the ungodly given, Ps. 1:4. 1. In general, they are the reverse of the righteous, both in character and condition: They are not so. The LXX. emphatically repeats this: Not so the ungodly; they are not so; they are led by the counsel of the wicked, in the way of sinners, to the seat of the scornful; they have no delight in the law of God, nor ever think of it; they bring forth no fruit but grapes of Sodom; they cumber the ground. 2. In particular, whereas the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 1

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 1 This psalm, though without a title, may reasonably be thought to be a psalm of David; since the next psalm, which is also without a title, is ascribed to him, Acts 4:25 ; and since both are joined together as one psalm by the Jews F11 T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 9. 2. ; See Gill on Acts 13:33 ; and since this is the general preface to the whole book, which is chiefly of David's penning, it is entitled, in the metaphrase of Apollinarius, "a Song of David, the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 1:1

Blessed is the man ,.... This psalm begins in like manner as Christ's sermon on the mount, Matthew 5:3 ; setting forth the praises and expressing the happiness of the man who is described in this verse and Psalm 1:2 . The words may be rendered, "O, the blessednesses of the man", or "of this man" F12 אשרי האיש "beatitudines illius viri", Montanus, Vatablus, Gejerus. ; he is doubly blessed, a thrice happy and blessed man; blessed in things temporal and spiritual; happy in this... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 1:2

But his delight is in the law of the Lord ,.... Not the law of nature, which was inscribed on Adam's heart in innocence, but now greatly impaired by sin, and become very imperfect and very insufficient to make men happy, or to lead them to true felicity; nor the law of Moses, which is a fiery law, and works wrath, accuses of sin, pronounces guilty, curses and condemns to death; and therefore cannot be delighted in by a sensible sinner, unless as it is in the hands of Christ, and as... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 1:3

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water ,.... Or, "for then shall he be", &c.; as Alshech renders the words; and the Hebrew "vau" is often used for "then" F17 Vid. Noldii Concord. Part. Ebr. p. 308. . As Psalm 1:1 describe the man who is blessed, this points at his blessedness, and shows and proves him to be an happy man; for he is comparable to a "tree": not to a dry tree, or a tree without fruit, or whose fruit is withered, but to a fruitful tree, a green and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 1:4

The ungodly are not so ,.... They are not as the good man is; their manner and course of life are different; they walk in the counsel of ungodly men, like themselves, and take counsel against the Lord, his Anointed, and his people: they stand in the way of sinners, and steer their conversation according to the course of the world, and sit in the seat of the scornful; laugh at divine revelation, lampoon the Scriptures, deride good men, make a jest of religion and a future state: they have... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 1:5

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment ,.... Neither in temporal judgment, when God comes forth in a way of wrath and sore displeasure; for who can stand before him when he is angry? what are chaff and stubble, thorns and briers, to consuming fire? nor in the last and great day of judgment, so the Targum and Kimchi interpret the words; for that day will burn like an oven the wicked, who will be as stubble, and leave neither root nor branch, Malachi 4:1 , when the great day... read more

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